“You can still have an impact on something much bigger than yourself.”

December 30, 2011

In this campaign we often speak about the power of everyday people reaching out neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend. For Sonia, that is exactly how she got her start organizing.

In January of 2007 a dear friend of mine, Ian, knew how frustrated I was with the current healthcare system, our going into Iraq and the re-election of George Bush. We spoke about politics and news every day—from local, national to world news. I had never imagined in a million years that I would ever become involved in politics until Ian told me that he had watched a young man named Barack Obama give a speech at the National Democratic Convention in 2004 and was taken by his speech and it’s contents. He told me that he heard that Barack Obama may be running for President and I should check him out. When he announced his candidacy, I was thrilled by his views of how the future of the Unites States should be. I immediately surfed the internet, looking for a way to get involved. I saw him speak at the Verizon Center in Manchester and never looked back.

Sonia worked tirelessly throughout the 2008 election. Even with three small children, she made time to make phone calls, canvass her neighborhood, enter data, and train new volunteers. If she wasn’t able to make it in to the office, she would make calls from her computer into other states. And her hard work paid off.

It was a great experience that I’ll never forget. I cried when Barack Obama got elected because I was so tired, glad the elections were finally here, missing the fact that Ian, who died suddenly that same year, wasn’t here to celebrate this historical moment with me, but especially thrilled to be able to call a man that I admire, Barack Obama, “Mr. President”.

Her work did not stop there. Sonia is continuing to organize with both the Nashua Democrats and with the Obama campaign. She plans and holds phonebanks and canvasses, recruits new volunteers, educates voters, and works with the Latino community in Nashua.

The most unexpected part of my role was how I went in with very little knowledge about politics to learning a lot about it and becoming close friends with like-minded people I met on the campaign. I realized that even if you have only a little to give, you can still have an impact on something much bigger than yourself.

Sonia continues to build this movement in Nashua and to honor her friend’s memory with her work, reaching out neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend. If you would like to join the work Sonia and other volunteers are doing across the state, connect with a neighborhood team for an upcoming primary event and be sure to stand with the President and vote in the Democratic primary on January 10th.